Taking Care of Business
by Erin T. Aardvark
Summary: When Cedric goes to a hockey symposium, and Sophia breaks a leg while figure skating, Cyril takes care of his grandson, Forest. Will he survive?
1. The Symposium

Life had been pretty much confusing for Cyril Sneer for awhile. His son, Cedric, had gotten married to his girlfriend, Sophia, and they were both living in the Sneer mansion. And as if that weren't enough, Sophia had a baby that she and Cedric named Forest, so now Cyril was a grandfather.

After awhile, Cyril got used to Sophia and Forest, but there had been a lot of changes. Cyril was used to smoking about ten cigars a day, but Cedric and Sophia managed to persuade him from doing so whenever the baby was in the room with him. So now Cyril was reduced to smoking his cigars whenever Forest wasn't around. And, for reasons nobody can understand, Forest adored his grandfather, but he had a funny way of showing it. Whenever he was near Cyril, Forest would try to pull on his nose. Cedric had the exact same nose as Cyril, and yet Forest never tried to pull Cedric's. He'd swat at it from time to time, but he'd only pull on Cyril's. Nobody quite understood Forest's methods of showing affection.

In any case, Cyril was sitting in his office going over something with a contractor. He was also keeping an eye on Forest, at the same time. Forest was sitting on the floor, playing with a set of building blocks as Cyril was closing his deal.

"I don't care what it takes," he said. "As long as it makes me money!"

Cyril laughed maniacally and hung up the phone. He leaned back in his chair, and propped his feet up on his desk.

"That, Forest, my boy, is how you handle big business," he said. Then he stood up, and went to his model of the Evergreen Forest. "The more money you can make, the better, I always say."

Cyril laughed, and knocked a couple of trees off his model. Forest had built a tower out of his blocks, babbled some baby talk, and knocked it down with one swipe. Then he giggled and clapped his hands. Cyril walked over and picked up his grandson.

"Ah, that's the ol' Sneer spirit, Forest!" he shouted.

Cyril began to laughing over his latest plan, when the door opened. Sophia walked into the office.

"Don't you know how to knock?!" Cyril shouted at her.

"Sorry," Sophia said, as she took Forest. "So how was he?"

"Give him a couple of building blocks, and he'll sit still for awhile," Cyril replied, taking a cigar out of his desk drawer.

"You're not going to light that now, are you?" Sophia asked.

"You're taking Forest out of the room, aren't you?" Cyril replied.

"Well, yes."

"I agreed not to smoke my cigars when Forest was in the room. I did not say I was going to give up smoking all together! Now get out of my office, Sofa Girl. I have business to attend to!"

Sophia rolled her eyes, and took her baby out of Cyril's office. Driven by his grandfather's example, Forest was ready to start knocking things over. And he did when Sophia brought him into the Sneer mansion's library, where Cedric was. Cedric was reading a book, and he had a big stack of them on the desk. No sooner than Forest was in arm's reach, he smacked the stack, and all the books crashed to the floor.

"Forest!" both Cedric and Sophia shouted in unison.

Forest just laughed and clapped his hands. Sophia sighed, and set the baby down while she helped Cedric restack the books.

"Don't you wander off while Mommy and Daddy clean up, Forest," she said, although she knew that wouldn't do any good. Forest was probably just going to crawl off and get into mischief anyway.

And he did start to crawl off while Sophia and Cedric had their attention diverted. He crawled out of the room, and looked around. Cyril's dog, Snag, was coming around the corner. Forest smiled, and decided to follow him around for awhile. But his decision was short lived when Cedric came out of the room, and picked him up.

"Oh no you don't," he said. "You're going straight into your playpen."

And with that, Cedric plopped Forest into the playpen, and sat down to finish reading. This was a good way to keep Forest in one place for a long period of time. Good for Cedric, Sophia, and Forest's baby-sitters, but not good for Forest. He didn't like to be cooped up for long. He liked to move. And he was about to show his disatisfication to his daddy. He grabbed a rattle that was laying in the playpen, and threw it. It hit Cedric in the back of the head.

"Forest," Cedric said, turning around. "Did you do that on purpose?"

Forest stuck his thumb in his mouth, and started sucking on it. His expression said, "Who me?" Cedric sighed, and put the rattle back into the playpen.

"I wonder if Pop ever had these troubles when I was a baby?" he said. "Look, Forest, I know you don't like the playpen, but it's for your own good."

Forest just giggled, and took a few swats at Cedric's nose. Cedric sighed, and went back to reading his book. Forest began to babble again, while banging his rattle on the floor of the playpen. Cedric managed to tune him out while he continued reading.

As he was in the middle of the book, Cyril walked into the library carrying the phone.

"Cedric, you've got a phone call," he said. "And don't take all day with it. This is my business line, and I don't need it to be tied up all day!"

"Okay, Pop," Cedric said, as he took the phone.

There was a long pause. Forest looked up at Cedric, wondering what was going on. Finally, Cedric nodded.

"Okay," he said. "Sure, I'll be there."

With that, Cedric hung up the phone, stood up, and left the library. Cyril and Forest stared after him.

"What was that all about?" Cyril asked, as he picked up Forest out of the playpen, and followed Cedric.

"Cedric!" he called. "What's going on?"

"I just got invited to this hockey symposium," Cedric said.

"What is it with you and hockey, Cedric? And baseball for that matter."

Cedric just shrugged, and went up to his room to pack his things. He found Sophia in there, looking for her figure skates. She was going to go out on the lake and practice her skating.

"I've got big news," Cedric said to her. "I just got invited to a hockey symposium."

"Great," Sophia said. "When is it?"

"In a few days," Cedric replied. "It's in California."

"All the way in California, huh?"

"Yeah, in Anaheim. I'll probably be gone for a couple of weeks."

"Well, if you get a chance, have some fun and check out Disneyland."

Cedric nodded, although he would probably be thinking more about hockey than about Mickey Mouse. He called his best friend, Bert Raccoon, and told him all about it.

"Lucky you," Bert said. "How'd you manage to swing an invite to this thing?"

"I don't know," Cedric replied. "I guess it has to do with one of Pop's connections. Maybe someone he does business with knows I'm a hockey fan or something."

"I'm a bigger fan than you are, and I didn't get an invitation to this hockey symposium."

"You want to come with me?"

"Is that allowed?"

"Yeah, they said I could bring a guest. And Sophia isn't much for hockey, Pop can't stay away from the office for too long, and Forest is too young for this."

"I knew there was a reason you were my best friend, Cedric!"

Cedric laughed over that one and hung up. Over dinner that night, Cedric was telling Sophia and Cyril his plans.

"I still don't understand what it is with you and hockey," Cyril said. "But if it gets you and Sofa Girl out of the house . . . ."

"Sophia's staying here, Pop," Cedric said.

"She is?" Cyril asked.

"Yeah," Cedric said.

"I wouldn't know what to do at this symposium, so Cedric invited Bert to go with him," Sophia replied. "That way, you can still run your business, and I can take care of Forest and make sure he doesn't get in your way."

"Although I am perfectly capable to run my business and watch the baby at the same time," Cyril said. "I've done it before, and I can do it again! Isn't that right, Forest?"

Cyril lifted Forest out of his highchair, and immediately, Forest grabbed onto Cyril's nose and pulled on it.

"See?" Cyril asked, somewhat nasally. "No problem."

Cedric and Sophia glanced at each other, but they didn't say anything. Cedric was still going to the symposium with Bert, and that was that.


	2. Those Are the Breaks

The symposium was all Bert could talk about the next day. He was out on Evergreen Lake with Ralph and Melissa, and they were smacking around a hockey puck.

"This is sure to be a blast!" he shouted.

"I'm a little surprised you're excited about this, Bert," Ralph said.

"Yeah, what exactly _is_ a symposium?" Bert asked.

"It's usually a meeting of people to discuss a topic," Melissa replied. "In this case, the topic is hockey."

"You mean we're not gonna go there to play hockey?" Bert asked.

Before Ralph or Melissa could answer, Cedric and Sophia skated by, with Forest. Bert saw them, and practically flew over to them.

"Hey Cedric!" he shouted. "Aren't we going to be playing hockey at this symposium?"

"I don't know, Bert," Cedric replied. "All I know is that it's going to be a discussion about hockey, and it's in Anaheim, California."

"Oh no," Bert groaned. "Dullsville. Snore City."

"Well, you can discuss how you saved Evergreen Lake," Sophia suggested.

"Works for me," Bert said. "How 'bout a little hockey before we leave for the symposium?"

"Not for me," Sophia said. "I have to work on my swan glides."

"And someone's got to watch Forest while Sophia works on her swan glides," Cedric replied. "At least I know Forest will sit still now. He likes to watch his mommy figure skate."

"We'll make a skater out of my little buddy yet," Bert said. He always called Forest that. Forest loved it. Every time Bert called him his little buddy, he would giggle and clap his hands.

The raccoons and the aardvarks separated. Bert, Ralph, and Melissa went to play hockey, and Cedric took Forest off the ice so they could watch Sophia skate. It was a big lake, so there was plenty of room for them to do their own activities without getting in each other's way. Unfortunately, when Bert got involved in a wild hockey game, nothing stopped him, and he was usually flying all over the place. And this time was no exception. Ralph had tried to pass the puck to Bert, and Bert missed it by a mile. So he skated after it, determined to score a goal with it. Unfortunately, Sophia was twirling around in circles, and she didn't see Bert coming, and Bert didn't see Sophia, either. But the others did.

"Look out, Bert!" Melissa shouted.

"Sophia, watch out!" Cedric yelled.

Their warnings came too late, and Bert and Sophia collided with each other, and both of them landed hard on the ice.

CRASH!

Sophia also heard a nasty crunching sound, and a painful sensation shot through her left leg. The others quickly skated over to see if they were all right.

"Are you guys all right?" Ralph asked.

"How many points was that worth?" Bert asked, dazedly.

"He's okay," everyone said in unison.

"How about you, Sophia?" Melissa asked.

"I don't think so," Sophia replied. "I'm not sure, but I think my leg's broken."

Cedric handed Forest to Melissa, and he and Ralph helped her to her feet. Then the two of them helped her off the ice, and got her over to the doctor's office as fast as they could. They were just glad that their community was on the small side, and the doctor's office wasn't too far away.

"Uhh, sorry about the collision, Sophia," Bert said, as the doctor was X-raying Sophia's leg. "Maybe it'll teach me to watch where I'm going."

"And it'll probably teach me to keep off the ice when you're playing hockey," Sophia replied.

After awhile, the group got the diagnoses. Sophia's leg was definitely broken, and it was a pretty bad break, too. She would have to stay at the hospital for a few weeks.

"Well, so much for the hockey symposium," Cedric said.

"What do you mean?" Sophia asked.

"I'm not going to go. Someone has to stay home and take care of Forest. I don't know if Pop can really handle it on his own."

"Cedric, you go to the symposium," Sophia insisted. "I'm sure Ralph and Melissa wouldn't mind looking after Forest."

"Sure," Ralph said. "We'd be glad to."

"It'll be no problem at all," Melissa said.

"Come on, Cedric, it's a once in a lifetime chance to see all the greats in hockey!" Bert shouted. "Like Wayne Grizzly!"

"I don't know if Wayne Grizzly will actually be there, Bert," Cedric said. "But okay, you guys talked me into it."

Cedric and Forest staid at the hospital until visiting hours were over, and then they headed home. When Cedric walked through the front door, Cyril was walking out of his office, and he noticed something right away.

"Where's Sofa Girl?" he asked. "I thought she was coming back with you."

"She broke her leg, Pop," Cedric said. "She was practicing her swan glides and stuff while Bert was playing hockey, and they collided. She has to stay at the hospital for a few weeks."

"So I take it you're not going to go to the symposium you were talking about."

"Well, I wasn't at first, but everyone talked me into it. You don't have to worry about taking care of Forest, though. Ralph and Melissa are going to do it."

"Cedric, you know darn well I can handle running a business and baby-sitting at the same time! I've done it with you until you were old enough for boarding school!"

"I don't know, Pop, Forest is a lot more active than I was when I was his age. I mean, he wanders off a lot when you're not looking."

"I can handle it! I've baby-sat this kid plenty of times when you and Sofa Girl were out!"

"Yeah, Pop, but that was only for a couple of hours at the most. This is going to be for a couple of weeks!"

"Cedric, you worry too much. I can handle Forest, and my business at the same time!"

Cedric gave in. Cyril certainly sounded like he was able to handle Forest, but he wasn't so sure. He would have felt a lot better if Ralph and Melissa were going to watch Forest. It was easier for two people to keep an eye on Forest instead of one, especially when he was out of his playpen. But he didn't say anything.


	3. Day One

On the day Cedric left for the symposium, he had printed out a schedule for Forest. He gave it to Cyril, who noticed it was quite long.

"What's this for?" he asked.

"Forest's schedule," Cedric said. "It's the routine Sophia and I always do with Forest every day. Are you sure you want to do this, Pop?"

"Don't you think I'm capable of looking after my own grandson?"

"Well, okay, Pop, if you insist, but if you need any help with Forest, just call Ralph and Melissa. I told them that you were going to take care of Forest, and they said that they'll be on call if you need help."

"I won't. Trust me, Cedric. I took care of you and my business all at the same time when you were younger, so I can clearly handle Forest."

"Well, okay, I guess. Bye, Pop. Bye, Forest. I'll see you in a couple of weeks!"

And with that, Cedric left the Sneer mansion, and headed for the train station. He was going to meet Bert there, and then they would get on a train to California. Cyril took Forest back inside the mansion, and looked at the schedule.

"Schedule," he muttered. "I don't think Cedric thinks I can handle you, Forest, but we'll show him, won't we?"

Forest giggled, and clapped his hands. Cyril was going to show all of them. He didn't think Forest would be too much trouble. After all, he was only a baby!

Cyril walked into the kitchen and put Forest in his high chair. He looked on the printed schedule. First thing to do was to make sure Forest had his breakfast. Cedric and Sophia were trying to get him to eat solid food, so they had the cupboards in the kitchen stocked with strained fruits and vegetables.

"Let's see here . . . ." Cyril said, digging through the cabinets. "What are they forcing down your throat this week?"

Forest laughed, and banged his hands on the tray of his highchair. Cyril finally took a jar of strained peas out of the cabinet. He opened it, and looked at it. It didn't look to appealing to him. He shrugged, and plunged a baby spoon into it.

"Okay, Forest," he said. "Open up."

Forest just looked at the green goop on the spoon, turned his head away, and whimpered. Of all the solid foods Cedric and Sophia were feeding him, his least favorite were the strained peas. He didn't like their icky green color, he didn't like the way they smelled, and he didn't like the way they tasted. Of course, Cedric and Sophia never forced strained peas (or any kind of strained vegetables for that matter) on him in the morning.

"Come on, Forest," Cyril said. "I've got a lot of work to do today, and the sooner we can get breakfast over with, the better."

Cyril tried to get the spoon into Forest's mouth, but he wouldn't have any of it. He didn't like strained peas, especially for breakfast. Cyril was persistent, though. He was going to give this one more shot. And Forest was going to give it a shot, too. But not by eating the peas. Cyril looked like he was about ready to get the peas into Forest's mouth, when Forest knocked the spoon out of Cyril's hand, and the strained peas hit Cyril right between the eyes.

"Why you little . . . . ." Cyril started, ready to strangle Forest, but he curbed his temper instead.

"Okay, have it your way," he said, wiping the peas off his face. He went up to the refrigerator, filled a bottle with milk, and gave it to Forest to suck on.

As Forest sucked on his bottle, Cyril looked at the schedule, and the note that Cedric had made on it.

"Note," he read. "Never feed Forest the strained vegetables in the morning. Always go with the fruit. Keep in mind applesauce is Forest's favorite. Now he tells me!"

Cyril sighed, and went to look for the applesauce. As he was doing that, Snag came into the kitchen, wanting his breakfast too. He sat by Forest's highchair and looked up. Forest looked down and giggled. Then he decided he'd help his grandpa out, and feed the dog. He pushed the jar of strained peas off his tray, and it smashed to the floor.

"What the . . . . ." Cyril said, turning around. He then saw Snag eating the spilt strained peas, and Forest clapping his hands and giggling.

"Snag, you stupid dog!" Cyril shouted. "Ever since the baby came along, you've been eating nothing but his leftover baby food!"

Cyril grumbled, and kicked Snag out of the room. Then he cleaned up the strained peas and picked up the broken glass.

"Why can't companies make baby food in plastic containers?" he grumbled. "That way if the baby knocks it off his high chair, it won't break and make a mess!"

Forest giggled. Cyril sighed, and put some applesauce into a plastic bowl, and proceeded to feed the baby. Now this was more like it to Forest. He gladly accepted the applesauce. He liked that for breakfast a whole lot better than strained peas. Cyril managed to get one spoonful in, when the phone rang. Cyril put the spoon down and went to answer the phone.

"What?" he said. "Oh, it's you, Sofa Girl. Yeah, Cedric just left. I was just feeding the baby. Cedric left a schedule and . . . . . no, I don't need you to call those Raccoons! I can handle the baby myself!"

As Cyril was arguing with Sophia about whether or not he could take care of the baby, Forest was trying to feed himself. He had no idea how to use the spoon, so he began to use his hands. Pretty soon, not only was there applesauce all over his face, hands, and shirt, but all over the tray of the highchair, and it was dripping on the floor, too.

"If I can take care of Cedric by myself, I'm sure I can handle Forest," Cyril said, continuing. "What do you mean? Of course I'm watching him! How much trouble can he get into sitting in his high . . . . . ack!"

Cyril apparently chose that moment to take a peek into the kitchen. He saw that Forest was making a mess. He immediately hung up the phone and ran over.

"Oh lovely," he said, sarcastically. "Did you get any of that in your mouth?"

Forest laughed, as Cyril wiped his face and hands with a napkin. Then he took Forest out of his highchair, and put him down on the floor, so he could clean up the rest of the mess.

"Stay there," Cyril said, as he went to go find a sponge.

Of course, Forest wasn't going to just stay there. He didn't want to just sit around and wait for Cyril to clean up the mess. He wanted to move! So he started to crawl off into the hallway. He also wanted to continue his game of knocking things over. He hadn't had enough of that since he knocked over Cedric's books. Of course, he also noticed Cedric and Sophia didn't seem to like his new game. He didn't understand why. Cyril liked the game.

Forest wandered into Cyril's office, and looked at the trashcan. It was stacked with discarded papers. Forest gave it a push, and knocked it over. Then he laughed, and began playing with the trash, which was mostly crumpled pieces of paper, ashes, and discarded cigars. Cyril's employees, the Pigs, came walking by and saw the mess.

"Uh oh," Lloyd said. "Let's go, guys."

The pigs walked into the kitchen, where Cyril had just finished cleaning up the applesauce mess. He was now washing his hands.

"Uhh, sir?" Floyd said.

"What is it?" Cyril asked. "Can't you idiots see I'm busy?"

"But sir, uhh, you might what to come into your office. The baby's . . . ."

"What are you morons talking about? The baby's right . . . ."

Cyril looked down at the floor, and saw Forest had wandered off. Then he sighed, and ran for his office. He saw Forest making a mess and groaned.

"Forest, we've got to put a stop to this," Cyril said, as he picked up the baby. Then he turned to the Pigs. "And as for you three, clean up this mess."

"Yes sir!" the Pigs shouted, and they started to clean up.

Cyril walked upstairs to the nursery. He dug out a bunch of Forest's toys, and put them in front of him.

"Here," he said. "These should keep you busy for awhile. Now I've got work to do, so if you don't mind, I'll be doing that."

Before he left, Cyril turned on the baby monitor, just in case Forest cried or something like that. Then he closed the door to make sure Forest wouldn't get out of his room. Forest hated it when anyone closed the door on him. They knew he couldn't reach the doorknob! This was so frustrating to him.


	4. Another Day, Another Disaster

Forest just sat there for awhile, playing with his blocks and stacking rings, and knocking them over the minute he got a good tower built out of his blocks, or he successfully stacked the rings on the little pole. But the blocks were more fun to knock over. He made a couple more stacks, and knocked them all down, but he shortly got bored with it. He began looking around his room, looking for something else to knock over. He crawled around the room for awhile, until he reached his changing table. He looked at all the boxes and things that were on there. Those looked like something he could knock over. The only problem was he couldn't reach them.

Forest sat there, thinking about how in the world he would be able to get up there and knock all that neat stuff over. He grabbed onto the table leg, and pulled himself to his feet. Then he started to climb up the changing table. But he didn't get very far. Forest wasn't one of the world's best climbers. He slipped, and fell onto the floor, and let out a scream.

Cyril groaned. He was afraid the quiet wouldn't last. He began grumbling as he walked up the stairs to check on the baby. He saw him sitting by the changing table whimpering a little. Cyril picked him up, figuring Forest needed to be changed, but the minute he was close enough to the stuff on the table, Forest knocked over the baby wipes and the baby powder. And it was the powder that sprayed everywhere the minute it hit the floor.

"That does it," Cyril groaned. "Where's Cedric keeping that playpen?"

Cyril went on a search around the house, looking for the playpen. Once he found it, he set it up in his office, and gave Forest some of his toys to keep him occupied.

"Now maybe I can get some work done," Cyril said.

But little did Cyril know he had a very long week ahead of him indeed.

Three days of baby-sitting went by. Cyril would keep Forest in the playpen in his office while he did some work. He would check the schedule from time to time, to see what exactly needed to be done. At times, he would send the Pigs to play with Forest while he did some work, and then he'd let the Pigs handle some of the work when Forest needed him.

All in all, Cyril was putting in a full day with baby-sitting and maintaining his business.

On the fourth day, Cyril was spending time outside with Forest. Forest was playing in the snow, taking it in his hands, and throwing it in the air. Cyril was just standing around, watching him, to make sure he didn't wander off. As he was watching Forest, Ralph and Melissa came walking by.

"How's it going, Cyril?" Ralph asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Cyril replied. "I think I'm handling this baby quite nicely, thank you very much!"

"Have you had any problems?" Melissa asked.

"None whatsoever," Cyril replied. "I don't know what the big deal is with baby-sitting anyway."

"Well, call us if you need any help," Ralph said.

"I won't," Cyril said. "I can handle it."

With that, Ralph and Melissa walked away. Cyril picked up Forest and brought him back inside. It was time for his afternoon nap.

By the next day, things started to go downhill. Forest woke up at four in the morning, screaming his head off. Cyril got up sluggishly to check on him.

"I thought we were past this," he grumbled, as he walked into the baby's room. "Okay, Forest, what's the problem?"

Cyril picked up the baby, and noticed he was looking a little flushed. He felt Forest's forehead, and it was warm.

"Another cold," he mumbled. "That's the basic look of it."

Cyril took Forest into the bathroom to take his temperature. Sure enough, Forest had a fever. Cyril then went downstairs, and filled Forest's bottle with some apple juice, and then proceeded to give it to him, while trying to get him to go back to sleep. But it wasn't easy. Forest was feeling miserable, and all he could do at the moment was cry.

Cyril just kept rocking Forest back and forth in the rocking chair, giving him the bottle. He didn't know what else to do. By six in the morning, Forest had fallen asleep. Cyril carefully put him back in his crib, and tucked him in. Then he started walking out of the room. Unfortunately, Forest chose that moment to wake up crying again. Cyril sighed, and started all over again.

By eight thirty-two, Forest had fallen asleep. Cyril put him in the crib, and practically raced downstairs before Forest could wake up again. He ran into the kitchen where he kept Forest's schedule and looked at it.

"Here we go," he said. "Emergency numbers, Dr. Samson. Check."

Cyril picked up the phone and dialed the pediatrician's number. Once he got hold of the doctor, he explained Forest had a fever of 101 degrees, sounded a bit congested, and was screaming his head off.

"Do you think you could make a house call?" Cyril said. "I'd like to get him looked at."

"A house call?" Dr. Samson asked. "Why don't you just bring Forest in, Mr. Sneer? An examination shouldn't take too long."

"Well, all right. But mind you, I have a lot of work to do around here."

Cyril hung up the phone, and then Forest started screaming again. Cyril walked up to the nursery to check on him. When he got over to the crib, he saw that Forest had spit up, and pretty hard at that. Cyril groaned, and took Forest out of the crib.

"Come on," he said. "Time for breakfast, and then you've got to see the doctor."

Forest whimpered a little. Cyril put him into his highchair, and got out the applesauce. As he spooned some into one of Forest's plastic bowls, the Pigs ran into the kitchen.

"Sorry for the intrusion, sir,"Lloyd said. "But you have a business call."

"What do they want from me now?" Cyril asked. Then he turned to the Pigs. "Make yourselves useful and feed the baby while I take this call!"

Cyril left the kitchen, and the Pigs brought the applesauce over to the highchair. Floyd dunked the spoon into the bowl, and lifted it to Forest's mouth.

"Okay, Forest, open wide!" he shouted.

Forest whimpered, and turned his head away. Floyd just kept on trying.

"Come on, Forest," he prodded. "Here comes the choo-choo!"

All three pigs then proceeded to make train noises, trying to get Forest to open up. This was something Cedric and Sophia had never done to try to get him to eat. Forest just started crying suddenly then. Floyd saw this as his chance, and managed to get some applesauce into Forest's mouth. Forest swallowed the spoonful, and began whimpering again.

"See? Isn't that good?" Floyd asked.

After that, the Pigs took turns feeding spoonfuls of applesauce to Forest, but the baby wasn't really enjoying it. With every spoonful, he felt more and more miserable. By the time Cyril came back to the kitchen, Forest had managed to eat all his applesauce, but some of it was dribbling out of the corner of his mouth.

"What's the matter with you?" he asked as he lifted the baby out of the highchair.

Then without warning, Forest spit up, but with a lot more force than he usually did. The Pigs stood back and grimaced.

"Eeeehhhhh," they said in unison.

Cyril remained calm, which was pretty interesting, since he was practically covered with applesauce. Forest began to cry again. Cyril put him back in his high chair, cleaned up the mess, and picked him up again.

"You porkers are in charge of any calls I get until I get back," he ordered. "And don't screw anything up!"

"Yes sir, yes sir!" the Pigs shouted, and they ran into Cyril's office.

Cyril sighed, and left the mansion to go to Dr. Samson's office. After a brief check up, Dr. Samson told Cyril that Forest had the flu.

"Figures," Cyril said.

"Just give him plenty of fluids and he'll be fine," Dr. Samson said. "And I'd refrain from giving him anything solid."

"Okay, great," Cyril said. "See you around, doc."

And with that, Cyril returned back to the mansion, and immediately put Forest to bed with a bottle of apple juice.

"You stay here and sleep," he said. "I've got to make sure those pigs aren't messing up my business."

Cyril closed the door, and went back downstairs to his office. He was glad to see that the pigs looked like they had everything under control. For about two hours, Cyril managed to get some work done, until Forest started crying again. He got up to check on him.

"Why is it when babies get sick all they ever do is cry their heads off?" he grumbled. "Hold your horses, Forest! I'm coming!"

Cyril walked into the nursery, and saw Forest whimpering. He picked him up, sat down in the rocking chair, and began rocking the baby back and forth trying to get him to go back to sleep. Forest was almost there when Lloyd came racing in with the phone.

"Pardon the interruption sir!" he shouted. That did it. Forest started crying his head of again.

"What is it now!" Cyril shouted.

"It's Cedric, sir," the pig said. "He wants to know how everything's going!"

Cyril grabbed the phone.

"Cedric?" he asked.

"Hi, Pop," Cedric said. "I'm just calling to check up on Forest. How is he, anyway? I can hear him crying."

"Oh . . . . . . he's . . . . . . he's a little under the weather, actually."

"Is everything okay, Pop? Because if Forest is sick, I can come home and . . . ."

"No, no, Cedric, everything's fine. You just stay at your symposium. Forest will be just fine after I get him back to sleep."

"Okay. You know Ralph and Melissa are still on call if you need them to watch Forest while you're working."

"I know, I know. I can handle it."

Cyril hung up the phone, and heaved a sigh. Then he continued rocking Forest to sleep. Finally, Forest drifted off. Cyril was grateful. Maybe now he could get some work done. He stood up, and walked over to the crib, but the minute he set Forest in it, he began to cry. Cyril was up a tree here. Apparently, Forest wasn't going to stop crying unless Cyril was rocking him, and Cyril couldn't spend the whole day sitting in the rocking chair with Forest. He had a lot of work to do.

"Maybe you should call the Raccoons, chief," Boyd said.

"No!" Cyril shouted. "I'm going to prove to Cedric once and for all that I can take care of things myself around here with the baby!"

The other two pigs then ran into the room, and they seemed pretty panicked.

"Sir . . . ."Floyd said.

"What is it now?" Cyril asked.

"The fax machine is going on and off and there are papers all over the floor."

Cyril was ready to explode. He jumped out of the rocking chair and raced downstairs. He put Forest in his playpen, which only caused him to start screaming, as he picked up the faxes and sorted through them. About half of them were returned contracts of his, and some were business proposals. He ended up reading through them, signing them off, and sending them back to where they came from. Then he took Forest out of the playpen, gave him a bottle, and brought him back upstairs.

Forest didn't end up going to sleep until ten o' clock that night. Once he was settled in his crib, Cyril went back downstairs to finish up working, and staid up all night doing it.

"What a nightmare," he grumbled. "If I have to go through another day like today, I'll scream."


	5. Hide and Seek

Fortunately for Cyril, Forest only had a twenty-four hour bug. By morning, he was feeling a lot better, and he was ready to spend some time with his grandpa, but Cyril was less than ready to spend time with his grandson. He was a wreck! He had practically spent the entire night working, and when he wasn't doing that, he was constantly getting Forest to go to sleep.

So instead of the standard applesauce breakfast, Cyril grabbed a box of Cheerios out of the cabinet, and poured a bowlful. He slid it on Forest's tray. He knew Cedric would give Forest Cheerios from time to time, just to nibble on. He was too tired to feed him. He poured himself a strong cup of coffee and practically drank it in one drop.

"Five days down," he said, marking off his calendar. "Nine more to go. And hopefully, you won't be catching any more bugs, Forest."

Forest giggled, and stuffed some Cheerios into his mouth. Cyril left him there while he went into his office to check in on things. Snag came into the kitchen for his own breakfast, and Forest began tossing handfuls of Cheerios at him. Snag practically vacuumed them up off the floor, which Forest got a kick out of it, and continued to throw down his Cheerios. Cyril returned a few moments later, and groaned.

"Forest, you're supposed to eat them, not throw them," he said, taking Forest out of the highchair. "And you're not supposed to feed them to the dog!"

Forest giggled. Cyril sighed, and went to go find the Pigs. They were down in their quarters, watching TV.

"I need you porkers to do something for me," he said.

"What's that, boss?" Lloyd asked.

"Watch the baby for a couple of hours," Cyril said. "I need to get some important work done, and I can't do that and watch the kid at the same time."

"Sure thing."

The Pigs took the baby, and parked him in front of the TV. Then they changed the channel to the various morning kid's shows. Forest giggled and clapped his hands. Normally, Cedric and Sophia didn't like putting Forest in front of the TV, so this was a treat for him. The TV kept him busy all morning, and the Pigs just sat around doing nothing, waiting for Cyril to call them in to do something.

By noon, Cyril walked into the Pigs quarters with a bottle. Forest was still parked in front of the TV, but he reached his arms up to his grandpa when he saw him.

"Good, you found a way to keep him still," Cyril said, as he gave Forest his bottle.

"Yeah," Boyd said. "These public television kid's shows are perfect baby-sitters. Even if Barfy, the Big Blue Salamander, gets on our nerves."

"Yeah, well, whatever," Cyril said. He picked up Forest, and started to take him to the kitchen. "I need you to watch him after lunch, too. I can't have him distracting me until I get my work done."

"Yes sir!" the Pigs shouted.

So after a lunch of creamed spinach (another one of Forest's least favorite foods), Cyril returned him to the Pigs, but by that time, there weren't any kids shows left on public television. And the Pigs were busy watching a boxing match. That didn't interest Forest in the least. He just sat there and sucked on the bottle that Cyril left with him, and waited patiently for Grandpa to come back for him.

The patiently waiting lasted for about ten seconds, max. Forest got bored just sitting there, and since the Pigs weren't watching him, he crawled off. He didn't want to hang around the room. He wanted to explore!

"At least the baby's behaving himself," Lloyd said.

"Yeah, I haven't heard a peep out of him," Floyd said.

"He's probably taking a nap," Boyd said.

None of them turned around to check. They were too engrossed with the boxing match. A few hours later, it was over, and the Pigs then had enough sense to check on Forest, but to their surprise, he was gone!

"Where's the baby!" Lloyd shouted.

"Oohhh, the boss isn't gonna be happy when he finds out!" Boyd shouted, nervously.

"We'd better find him!" Floyd shouted. "I mean, he couldn't have gone far! He doesn't even know how to walk!"

The Pigs then raced around their quarters, practically tearing everything apart. They had to find Forest before Cyril found out they lost him.

Unfortunately, they were making a heck of a lot of noise, and it was beginning to drive Cyril completely out of his mind.

"What are they doing down there!" he shouted, getting up from his desk.

Cyril stormed down to the Pigs quarters, only to find them still tearing the place apart. It looked like a tornado blew threw!

"What in blazes!" Cyril shouted. "What are you doing!"

"We're, uhh, we're looking for the baby," Floyd said, timidly.

"We're playing Hide-and-Seek," Lloyd said.

"Yeah, and we're It!" Pig Three shouted. "Forest's a good little hider!"

Cyril gave them a suspicious look, then shook his head, and went back to work. He didn't have time to worry about this now. The Pigs breathed of relief, and continued searching. Once they were done searching their quarters, they went out into the hallway to continue looking. They went through the entire Sneer mansion, but couldn't find hide, nor hair of Forest. Their search took them into Cyril's office, and they proceeded to tear that apart as well. Needless to say, Cyril was not amused.

"Now what are you bacon brains doing!" he shouted. "Don't tell me you're still looking for the baby!"

"Well . . . ." Lloyd said. "We are. We sort of . . . . . . lost him."

"YOU LOST THE BABY!" Cyril screamed. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO WATCH HIM!"

The Pigs started to shake nervously. Cyril got up, groaned, and began looking himself, making an even bigger mess of the Sneer mansion than before. He pulled books off the shelves in the library, he checked all the bedrooms, the kitchen, the basement, everywhere he could think of, but there was no place that Forest could have been. He had about as much luck as the Pigs did.

"This is a problem," Cyril said, as he started pacing around the room. "This is no time to panic, either. Forest has to be around here somewhere. He couldn't have gone outside."

Cyril stopped pacing abruptly when he saw Snag come into the kitchen through his dog door. Then he realized that Forest could have gone outside, through the dog door! He raced outside, and began searching through the snow. As he was looking, Ralph and Melissa walked by, and looked at Cyril as if he had lost his mind.

"Uhh, Cyril?" Ralph asked. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for someone—er, something," Cyril said.

"What are you looking for?" Melissa asked. "Maybe we can help."

"No, no, I've got it under control," Cyril said. "You two just go . . . . do whatever it is raccoons do."

Ralph and Melissa looked at each other, shrugged, and continued on their way. Cyril looked around the snow, and then realized he was being ridiculous. If Forest had gone outside, his tracks would be in the snow, and there were no baby tracks to be found, so he went back inside, and continued pacing around. Then he stopped, sat down at the kitchen table and breathed of relief.

"No need to panic," he said. "I've got plenty of time to find Forest before Cedric comes back from his symposium!"

The phone rang suddenly, and Cyril picked it up.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hi, Pop!" Cedric shouted on the other line. "How's it going?"

"Oh, it's going fine," Cyril said. "Forest's just playing with the Pigs. Hide-and-Seek they said."

"Forest's a little young for that, isn't he?"

"Well, he's a bright boy. He catches on to things rather quickly."

"Well, that's true, I guess. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that Bert and I are at the train station in California, and we'll be back in the Evergreen Forest tomorrow. We're going to pick up Sophia at the hospital and come home."

"Tomorrow? I . . . . I thought this hockey symposium was going to go on for another week!"

"It is, but Bert and I got bored with it. We spent the last two days down in Disneyland. Anyway, I'll see you and Forest tomorrow, Pop."

And with that, Cedric hung up. Cyril nearly swallowed his cigar. He dropped the phone on the floor, and shot to his feet.

"I've gotta find that baby!" he shouted.

For the rest of the day, and all through the night, Cyril practically tore the mansion apart, looking for Forest. He even checked in rooms he already searched thoroughly, but he couldn't find a single trace of his grandson.

"Forest!" he called out. "Come out, come out wherever you are!"

Snag was even helping out a little. He began sniffing around the room, trying to track him down. Unfortunately, he wasn't getting anywhere. Cyril was beginning to panic. He had to find the baby before Cedric and Sophia came home!

By dawn, Cyril was still looking. He had until ten o' clock to find the baby. He gathered not only his Pigs into the front hallway, but some of his bears, too.

"All right, this is important," he said. "Spread out, and search this entire house! It's five thirty now. We have four and a half hours to find the baby, and we have to find him before Cedric comes home!"

The entire crew then split up, and started to look everywhere. Some of the bears looked outside and tried to look for baby tracks in the snow. The Pigs were tearing apart nearly everything they came across. Cyril was going through every single room on the second and third floors. He even checked his dungeon to see if Forest may have been down there. But he wasn't. He spent the entire four and a half hours searching, but he just couldn't find Forest.

By ten o' clock, Cedric and Sophia returned back to the mansion, and saw it in shambles.

"What happened?" Sophia asked.

"I don't know," Cedric said. "Pop! Hey, Pop, we're home!"

"Oh, uhh, hi, Cedric," Cyril said, trying to act like everything was normal. "How was the symposium?"

"A little boring," Cedric said, looking around. "What happened, Pop? It looks like a tornado blew through here!"

"Oh . . . . the Pigs got involved in a touch football game inside, and . . . . uhhh . . . . they haven't had a chance to clean up yet."

"So I've noticed. How was Forest? Did he give you any trouble?"

"Oh no. No trouble at all. You know Forest. Always loves to hang with his grandpa. Ha, ha, ha."

"So where is he?"

"He's . . . . upstairs. Taking a nap. You know he had a little flu a couple of days ago, and he still needs to get some rest."

"I'll just go check on him, then," Sophia said. She maneuvered the crutches she was on to get to the stairs, but Cyril blocked her off.

"No! You can't go up there!" he shouted.

"Why not?" Sophia asked, a little surprised.

"Well, uhh, I . . . . . I can't let you go up those stairs on those crutches!" Cyril shouted. "You could fall and break your other leg! You just go into the other room, sit on the couch, make yourself comfortable, Sophia, and I'll go check on the baby."

Cyril was off, racing up the stairs fast as lightning, Cedric and Sophia looked at each other.

"What did he call me?" Sophia asked. For as long as she had known Cyril, he had always called her "Sofa Girl." She wasn't too sure if he had ever called her "Sophia" before.

Cyril was pacing around the baby's room, trying to think of how he could stall Cedric and Sophia until he could find Forest. It wasn't going to be easy, that was for sure.

"Don't panic, Cyril," he said to himself. "That baby's got to be around here somewhere. He couldn't have gotten far. Most of the doors in this place are kept closed, and he can't reach the doorknobs."

"Pop, is everything okay?" Cedric asked, as he started to come into Forest's room. Cyril stood in front of the crib, blocking it off.

"Yes, yes, everything's fine," Cyril said. "Forest's sleeping like a baby. I think we'd better leave him alone and let him sleep for awhile."

"If it's all the same to you, Pop, I'd like to check on him," Cedric said, trying to come into the room. "I haven't seen him in almost a week."

"No, Cedric, you can check in on Forest later. Uhh, why don't you go unpack your things, and then . . . . . go and play a little hockey?"

"You're acting weird, Pop."

"Must be the weather."

Cedric shrugged, and left. Cyril breathed of relief. He wasn't so sure if he could keep this up. And he knew he couldn't fool Cedric and Sophia for long. They would probably find out sooner or later Forest was missing.

"Okay, Cyril, think," Cyril said to himself. "If I were a very active eight-month-old baby who would crawl off whenever my baby-sitter wasn't looking, where would I go?"

Cyril thought about this for awhile. He began to think what could have been going on in Forest's head when the Pigs lost him. Then he remembered a time to when Cedric was a baby, a little younger than Forest. Cyril had been in the middle of a business proposition and Cedric had wandered away from him. He similarly tore the mansion apart looking for him, until he eventually found him sleeping in . . . . .

"The laundry room!" Cyril shouted. "That's the only room I haven't checked!"

Cyril raced down the stairs, and dashed into the laundry room, going through every inch of it, throwing clothes everywhere.

"Come on, come on," he muttered as he was tearing the room apart. "You've got to be in here somewhere!"

"Pop, what in the world are you doing!" Cedric shouted.

Cyril looked up and saw Cedric and Sophia standing in the doorway, just staring at him. He stood up, and smiled sheepishly.

"I was just . . . ." he said. "Doing some laundry."

"Oh," Cedric said. "You didn't take Forest down here with you, did you? I was just in his room and he's not there."

"Well, uhh . . . ." Cyril said, trying to think of a good excuse.

But before he could say a word, the three of them heard Forest's distinctive giggle coming from a pile of clean laundry in the corner of the room.

"Uhh, yeah," Cyril said. He walked over and picked the baby up off the laundry. "Like I said, he likes to hang out with Grandpa."

"I know," Cedric said, taking his son from Cyril. "So was he any trouble?"

"No, no trouble at all. Heh, heh. Now if you'll excuse me, Cedric . . . . ."

"Where are you going, Pop?"

"To book a good, long vacation. After the week I've had baby-sitting Forest, I think I need it!"

The End


End file.
